Great Gospel
by Kit8
Summary: I'm bad at writing summaries because I give things away X_x; I'll let you read for yourself ^_^


Great Gospel  
  
The sound of a great blast filled the area. Aeris walked out from the alley slowly with her flower basket in hand. A voice out of nowhere shouted, "The reactor just had a bomb set off! Run!" A man ran widely knocking Aeris to the ground. Landing, a couple of her flowers fell out of the basket. She stood up and dusted herself off. Well, that was really rude… Aeris thought. She soon found a young man with spiked hair run from where the blast was heard.  
  
"Excuse me, sir!" she called out.  
  
He turned around and looked at Aeris.  
  
"Would you like to buy a flower? They are only one gil each."  
  
After pondering a bit, he reached in his pocket and handed the money to Aeris.  
  
"Thank you, sir!"  
  
Aeris and the spiked haired fellow looked at each other for a moment and Aeris just stared. The man turned and ran off the way he was going.  
  
"He looked like…" Aeris started. She shook her head. "No, that's silly, it isn't him. Though, he did look like him."  
  
Her thoughts were jumbled, but she didn't think much of it after she started to walk towards the church.  
  
As Aeris walked, the slums seemed to depress her. It was a terrible mess of shambles. Aeris strolled towards the church and stopped at the doorway. She sighed sadly. "Damn you Shinra."  
  
"Give me something hard," Cloud said as he sat in the barstool. Tifa grabbed some bottles and a small glass. She started to mix the drink. After finishing, she gave the drink to Cloud. Cloud looked at Tifa and knew she was about to start talking about the past. Time to tune out now… Cloud thought as he gulped down the drink and not listening to anything Tifa talked about. After a few minutes went by, Cloud said "Yeah." A few times to make Tifa think he was paying attention.  
  
Oh cloud is so sweet and understanding. He always listens to me. Tifa thought to herself. "Cloud?" she asked.  
  
"Huh? What?" Cloud said looking up.  
  
"What do you think about the past?"  
  
"Oh. Yeah, well, I don't know Tifa. I don't think much of it. It isn't that much of importance to me. I'd really like to forget it sometimes."  
  
Cloud got up from his seat. Tifa looked down.  
  
"You'd like to forget our promise?"  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"So you really did forget. Don't you remember, by the water tower?"  
  
"Oh yeah, it was getting late, I didn't think you would have come."  
  
"Yeah, it was."  
  
"…Yeah. Well, all that was a long time ago. I can't fulfill that promise anymore. It's like a lost cause or something."  
  
Tifa sighed. Cloud shrugged his shoulders.  
  
I guess I was too harsh, oh well…I can't make this happen anymore. It IS a lost cause. Cloud thought to himself as he walked away and towards the pinball machine. He pushed the switch and it made a whirling noise as it descended. Barret had informed him about the next mission that would take place the next day. As long as Cloud was getting paid, he did not really care. Cloud looked around. This is only the beginning…  
  
The next morning, Cloud awoke by himself in the hideout. He got up and ran towards the pinball machine and ascended to the top. Stepping off the platform he saw Barret and Tifa waiting for him. "Hey Cloud!" Barret said.  
  
"What?" Cloud replied.  
  
"I found this materia stuff, could you… I mean, can you teach me how to use this?"  
  
"It'd be too complicated, I'll teach you it later. We gotta get on with this mission, alright?"  
  
Barret got frustrated with Cloud's reply, and was about to bash his head in. Tifa gave Barret a look, and he just stopped. They equipped themselves with all the necessary things they would need: weapons and materia.  
  
They reached the next reactor, which strangely enough, looked exactly like the last one. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret made it through to where to set the bomb. Suddenly a piercing screech screamed in Cloud's head. He kneeled holding his head. Sweat was dropping from his brow.  
  
"Cloud?" Tifa said.  
  
"Pull yourself together man!"  
  
"I'm …okay. Alright it's set, let's get out of here!" Cloud yelled. The trio ran as fast as they could away from it, only to be encountered by President Shinra himself.  
  
"President Shinra?!" Barret yelled.  
  
"Yes, that is me. However, I'm late for a dinner, I'll leave you all for now." Shinra said flying off in his helicopter.  
  
"What's that noise?" Tifa said looking over at Cloud.  
  
"Oh shit!" Barret yelled. "What the hell is that?!"  
  
"It's like a techno-solider, well it IS a techno-solider. It's called Air Buster, if I remember correctly. Just attack!" Cloud exclaimed.  
  
"Damn it! Die already!" Cloud yelled, slashing it with his sword. "You stupid piece of junk!" Air Buster turned around and faced Barret and Tifa. "OVER HERE! Over here!" Cloud looked over and saw the two were wounded, but could still fight. Tifa ran forward to hit it, but was knocked down. After falling with a clank, Barret fired at it.  
  
"Cure!" Tifa said as a sparkling green light glittered and floated around her.  
  
She got back to her feet in fighting stance and went to attack again. "Okay, I'm just overly impatient right now, you hunk of metal!" Cloud reared his sword up and stabbed Air Buster. The sword made sparks from going through the metal. Air Buster stopped and started to shake. Cloud withdrew his sword and back up. A big ball of flames flickered through it from all sides. It exploded into flames, destroying the catwalk. Barret shield Tifa with his body. His huge bulk was barely moved by the explosion.  
  
"CLOUD!" Tifa exclaimed.  
  
Cloud fell down through the smoke that protruded through the reactor. Tifa looked over, but Barret pulled her back. Tumbling through the air, Cloud hit something hard and it knocked him out.  
  
Everything was black. A voice was asking him if he was okay, but he couldn't answer. No words were coming out. "Back then, you could get by with just skinned knees…"  
  
"Back then?" Cloud asked.  
  
"Can you get up?"  
  
"Yeah." Cloud said.  
  
He opened his eyes carefully, not looking anywhere but forward. His back was sore, and he sat up carefully.  
  
"What happened?" Cloud asked.  
  
"Well, you came crashing down. The roof and the flowerbed must have broken your fall." A female voice said.  
  
"I came crashing down? Sorry about the flowers."  
  
He stood up and walked off the flowerbed to the wooden planks that stuck out. "Do you remember me?" Cloud looked over and saw a very attractive girl with a pink dress and red jacket. She had big green eyes and a bow in her hair.  
  
"Yeah, I remember you. You were the one selling flowers, right?"  
  
"I'm so happy you remembered! Do you have any materia?"  
  
"Yeah, some."  
  
"I do too. It's good for absolutely nothing!"  
  
"You probably just don't know how to use it."  
  
"Oh no, I do. It just isn't used for anything. It was my mother's, so it is very important to me."  
  
"Is that so?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, you don't even know my name! My name is Aeris. Nice to meet you."  
  
"Mine's Cloud."  
  
"So Cloud, what do you do?"  
  
"A little bit of everything."  
  
"A jack of all trades, huh? Have you ever been a bodyguard, Cloud?"  
  
Suddenly a man walked in to the church. "Don't mind me," he said. Cloud walked up to him. "Don't you remember me?" A flash in Cloud's mind sparked.  
  
"Yeah. I remember you. The Turks."  
  
"C'mon Cloud! There's an exit in the back here!" Aeris yelled.  
  
Cloud stared at the man, and turned and ran with Aeris towards the back of the church. They ran around the stairs and up to a hole in the plank in a large area of the church.  
  
The Turk and a few soldiers came. "Aeris, just jump!" Cloud said. The soldiers fired and hit an area near Aeris, and she fell. "Aeris!"  
  
Cloud ran up and pushed over a few barrels that were in the rafters to knock over the soldiers. "This way!" Cloud said as he ran towards a large piece of wood sticking out the side of the roof of the church. "What are they after you for? The Turks are in to kidnapping and other stuff."  
  
"I don't know. Maybe they think I've got what it takes to be in SOLDIER!" Aeris exclaimed.  
  
"Well, we better get going, you don't want to be caught do you?" Cloud said as he ran off. Aeris chased after him. Cloud reached a part in the junkyard, and waited for Aeris.  
  
"Wait! Wait I said!" Aeris yelled as she jumped down and caught up to Cloud.  
  
Catching her breath, Aeris had her hands on her knees. "Didn't you say you had what it took to be in SOLDIER?"  
  
"Oh! You're terrible!" Aeris yelled at Cloud. 


End file.
